The House of Representatives of the Philippines (Filipino: Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas), is the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines. (The Senate of the Philippines is the upper house). It is often informally called Congress. Members of the House are officially styled as Representative (Kinatawan) and sometimes informally called Congressmen (mga kongresista) and are elected to a three-year term. They can be re-elected, but cannot serve more than three consecutive terms. Around eighty percent of congressmen are district representatives, representing a particular geographical area. There are 234 legislative districts in the country, each composed of about 250,000 people. There are also party-list representatives elected through the party-list system who constitute not more than twenty percent of the total number of representatives.

Aside from having its concurrence on every bill in order to be passed for the President's signature to become a law, the House of Representatives has the power to impeach certain officials, and all money bills must originate from the lower house.

Joint session of the Philippine Legislature, Manila. November 15, 1916

Philippine legislature before 1924

Party control of the lower house. Notice the one-party dominance of the Nacionalistas from 1907 to 1941, the two-party system with the emergence of the Liberal Party in 1946, the return of one-party dominance by the KBL from 1978 to 1984, and the multiparty system from 1987 to the present.

In 1916, the Jones Act, officially the Philippine Autonomy Act, changed the legislative system. The Philippine Commission was abolished and a new fully elected, bicameral Philippine Legislature consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate was established. The Nacionalistas continued their electoral dominance at this point, although they were split into two factions led by Osmeña and Quezon; the two reconciled in 1924, and controlled the Assembly via a virtual dominant-party system.

The legislative system was changed again in 1935. The 1935 Constitution established a unicameralNational Assembly. But in 1940, through an amendment to the 1935 Constitution, a bicameral Congress of the Philippines consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate was adopted.

Upon the inauguration of the Republic of the Philippines in 1946, Republic Act No. 6 was enacted providing that on the date of the proclamation of the Republic of the Philippines, the existing Congress would be known as the First Congress of the Republic. The "Liberal bloc" of the Nacionalistas permanently split from their ranks, creating the Liberal Party. These two will contest all of the elections in what appeared to be a two-party system. The party of the ruling president wins the elections in the House of Representatives; in cases where the party of the president and the majority of the members of the House of Representatives are different, a sufficient enough number will break away and join the party of the president, thereby ensuring that the president will have control of the House of Representatives.

This set up continued until President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law and abolished Congress. He would rule by decree even after the 1973 Constitution abolished the bicameral Congress and created a unicameral Batasang Pambansa parliamentary system of government, as parliamentary election would not occur in 1978. Marcos' Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL; New Society Movement) won all of the seats except those from the Central Visayas ushering in an era of KBL dominance, which will continue until the People Power Revolution overthrew Marcos in 1986.

The 1987 Constitution restored the presidential system of government together with a bicameral Congress of the Philippines. One deviation from the previous setup was the introduction of the mid-term election; however, the dynamics of the House of Representatives resumed its pre-1972 state, with the party of the president controlling the chamber, although political pluralism ensued that prevented the restoration of the old Nacionalista-Liberal two-party system. Instead, a multi-party system evolved.

The presiding officer is the Speaker. Unlike the Senate President, the Speaker usually serves the entire term of Congress, although there had been instances when the Speaker left office due to conflict with the president: examples include Jose de Venecia, Jr.'s resignation as speaker in 2008 when his son Joey de Venecia exposed alleged corrupt practices by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, and Manny Villar's ouster occurred after he allowed the impeachment of President Estrada in 2000.

The Speaker is the head of the House of Representatives. He presides over the session; decides on all questions of order, subject to appeal by any member; signs all acts, resolutions, memorials, writs, warrants and subpoenas issued by or upon order of the House; appoints, suspends, dismisses or disciplines House personnel; and exercise administrative functions.

The speaker is elected by majority of all the members of the house, including vacant seats. The speaker is traditionally elected at the convening of each Congress. Before a speaker is elected, the House's sergeant-at-arms sits as the "Presiding Officer" until a speaker is elected. Compared to the Senate President, the unseating of an incumbent speaker is rarer.

There was a position of speaker pro tempore for congresses prior the reorganization of the officers of the House of Representatives during the 10th Congress in 1995. The speaker pro tempore was the next highest position in the House after the speaker.

The position was replaced by the deputy speakers in 1995. Originally, there was one Deputy Speaker for each island group of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Then, in 2001 during the 12th Congress, a Deputy Speaker "at large" was created. On the next Congress, another "at large" deputy speakership was created, along with a Deputy Speaker for women. In the 15th Congress starting in 2010, all six deputy speakers are "at large".

The deputy speakers perform the speaker's role when the speaker is absent. Currently in the 16th Congress, the deputy speakers represent the chamber at-large.

The majority leader, aside from being the spokesman of the majority party, is to direct the deliberations on the floor. The Majority Leader is also concurrently the Chairman of the Committee on Rules. The majority leader is elected in a party caucus of the ruling majority party.

The minority leader is the spokesman of the minority party in the House and is an ex-officio member of all standing Committees. The minority leader is elected in party caucus of all Members of the House in the minority party, although by tradition, the losing candidate for speaker is named the minority leader.

The secretary general enforces orders and decisions of the House; keeps the Journal of each session; notes all questions of order, among other things. The secretary general presides over the chamber at the first legislative session after an election, and is elected by a majority of the members.

Marilyn Barua-Yap is the Secretary General of the House of Representatives.

The Sergeant-at-Arms is responsible for the maintenance of order in the House of Representatives, among other things. Like the secretary general, the sergeant-at-arms is elected by a majority of the members.

Retired Brigadier General Nicasio J. Radovan, Jr. is the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives.

There are two types of representatives in the chamber: representatives from congressional districts and party-list representatives. Eighty percent of representatives shall come from congressional districts, with each district returning one representative. Although each district should have a population of at least 250,000 people, all provinces have at least one legislative district, regardless of population, whose residents vote for their own congressman; several cities have representation of their own, independent of provinces, although they should have at least a population of 250,000. For provinces that have more than one legislative district, the provincial districts are identical to the corresponding legislative district, with the exclusion of cities that do not vote for provincial officials.

The representatives from the districts comprise at most 80% of the members of the House; therefore, for a party to have a majority of seats in the House, the party needs to win at least 60% of the district seats. No party since the approval of the 1987 constitution has been able to win a majority of seats, hence coalitions are not uncommon.

^c The independent city of Naga remains part of Camarines Sur's congressional representation.

^d The component city of Dasmariñas is represented under its own name, but also constitutes the Cavite's 4th District. The component cities of Bacoor and Imus are officially only known as Cavite's 2nd and 3rd Districts, respectively.

^e The independent city of Mandaue remains part of Cebu's congressional representation.

^f The independent city of Santiago remains part of Isabela's congressional representation.

^g The component city of Biñan is represented separately from Laguna, but remains as part of the province's 1st District for the purpose of electing Sangguniang Panlalawigan members.

^h The independent cities of Ormoc and Tacloban remain part of Leyte's congressional representation.

^i The independent city of Cotabato remains part of Maguindanao's congressional representation.

^j The independent city of Puerto Princesa remains part of Palawan's congressional representation.

^k The independent city of Angeles remains part of Pampanga's congressional representation.

^l The independent city of Dagupan remains part of Pangasinan's congressional representation.

^m The independent city of Lucena remains part of Quezon's congressional representation.

^n The component city of Antipolo is represented separately from Rizal. The city returns one member from each of its districts to the province's Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

^o The independent city of General Santos remains part of South Cotabato's congressional representation.

^p The independent city of Olongapo remains part of Zambales's congressional representation.

The party-list system is the name designated for party-list representation. Under the 1987 Constitution, the electorate can vote for certain party-list organizations in order to give voice to significant minorities of society that would otherwise not be adequately represented through geographical district. From 1987-1998, party-list representatives were appointed by the President.

Since 1998, each voter votes for a single party-list organization. Organizations that garner at least 2% of the total number of votes are awarded one representative for every 2% up to a maximum of three representatives. Thus, there can be at most 50 party-list representatives in Congress, though usually no more than 20 are elected because many organizations do not reach the required 2% minimum number of votes.

After the 2007 election, in a controversial decision, the Supreme Court ordered the COMELEC to change how it allocates the party-list seats. Under the new formula only one party will have the maximum 3 seats. It based its decision on a formula contained in the VFP vs. COMELEC decision. In 2009, in the BANAT vs. COMELEC decision, it was changed anew in which parties with less than 2% of the vote were given seats to fulfill the 20% quota as set forth in the constitution.

Aside from determining which party won and allocating the number of seats won per party, another point of contention was whether the nominees should be a member of the marginalized group they are supposed to represent; in the Ang Bagong Bayani vs. COMELEC decision, the Supreme Court not only ruled that the nominees should be a member of the marginalized sector, but it also disallowed major political parties from participating in the party-list election. However, on the BANAT decision, the court ruled hat since the law didn't specify who belongs to a marginalized sector, the court allowed anyone to be a nominee as long as the nominee as a member of the party (not necessarily the marginalized group the party is supposed to represent).

Congressional district population map, as of August 1, 2007. Note the underrepresentation of areas concentrated around central and southern Luzon and central Mindanao.

Congress is mandated to reapportion the legislative districts within three years following the return of every census.[1] Since its restoration in 1987, Congress has not passed any general apportionment law, despite the publication of five censuses in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2007 and 2010.[2] The increase in the number of representative districts since 1987 were mostly due to the creation of new provinces, cities, and piecemeal redistricting of certain provinces and cities.

The apportionment of congressional districts is not dependent upon a specially-mandated independent government body, but rather through Republic Acts which are drafted by members of Congress. Therefore, apportionment often can be influenced by political motivations. Incumbent representatives who are not permitted by law to serve after three consecutive terms sometimes resort to dividing their district, or even creating a new province which will be guaranteed a seat, just so that they will be able to run and serve terms in a technically different district. Likewise, politicians whose political fortunes are likely to be jeopardized by any change in district boundaries may delay or even ignore the need for reapportionment.

Since 1987, the creation of some new congressional districts have been met with controversy, especially due to incumbent political clans and their allies benefiting from the new district arrangements. Some of these new congressional districts are tied to the creation of a new province, because such an act necessarily entails the creation of a new congressional district.

Creation of Davao Occidental, 2013: The rival Cagas and Bautista clans dominate politics in the province of Davao del Sur; their members have been elected as congressional representatives for the first and second districts of the province since 1987. However, the province's governorship has been in contest between the two clans in recent years: Claude Bautista, the current governor, was elected in 2013; before that Douglas Cagas served as governor from 2007 to 2013, after succeeding Benjamin Bautista Jr. who served from 2002 to 2007.[3] Supporters of both clans have been subjected to political violence, prompting the police to put the province of Davao del Sur in the election watchlist.[4] The law which created Davao Occidental, Republic Act No. 10360, was co-authored by House Representatives Marc Douglas Cagas IV and Franklin Bautista as House Bill 4451; the creation of the new province is seen as a way to halt the "often violent" political rivalry between the clans by ensuring that the Cagas and Bautista clans have separate domains.[4]

Creation of Dinagat Islands, 2007: The separation of Dinagat Islands from Surigao del Norte has further solidified the hold of the Ecleo clan over the impoverished and typhoon-prone area, which remains among the poorest provinces in the country.[6]

Currently the district with the lowest population is the lone district of Batanes, with only 17,246 inhabitants in 2015. The most populous congressional district, the 1st District of Caloocan City, has around 69 times more inhabitants. Data below reflect the district boundaries for the 2016 elections, and the population counts from the 2015 census.[7]

Persons per representative per province or city in the House of Representatives: Provinces (blue) and cities (red) are arranged in descending order of population from Cavite to Batanes (provinces) and from Quezon City to San Juan (cities).

Persons per representative from 1903 to 2007. The last nationwide apportionment act was the ordinance to the 1987 constitution, which was based on the 1980 census.

Because of the lack of a nationwide reapportionment after the publication of every census since the Constitution was promulgated in 1987, faster-growing provinces and cities have become severely underrepresented. Each legislative district is ideally supposed to encompass a population of 250,000.[8] The following jurisdictions currently have a deficit in their congressional representations if the constitutional ideal of 250,000 population count per district is considered:

Province /
Independent City

Population(2015 census)

Number of legislative districts

Current number of
representatives

Maximum possible representation
using the 250,000 population count threshold

^a Population count for Cebu excludes the independent city of Mandaue.

^b The independent city of Mandaue (pop. 362,654) currently remains part of Cebu's congressional representation despite having already reached the 250,000 population threshold.

^c The independent city of Dagupan (pop. 171,271) does not meet the population threshold and therefore remains part of Pangasinan's congressional representation in this table.

^d Population count for Pampanga excludes the independent city of Angeles.

^e The independent city of Angeles (pop. 411,634) currently remains part of Pampanga's congressional representation despite having already reached the 250,000 population threshold.

^f Population count for Leyte includes the independent cities of Ormoc (pop. 215,031) and Tacloban (pop. 242,089), which do not meet the population threshold and therefore remain part of Leyte's congressional representation in this table.

^g Population count includes the independent city of Naga (pop. 196,003), which does not meet the population threshold and therefore remains part of Camarines Sur's congressional representation in this table.

^h Population count for Quezon excludes the independent city of Lucena.

^i The independent city of Lucena (pop. 266,248) currently remains part of Quezon's congressional representation despite having already reached the 250,000 population threshold.

^j Population count for Isabela includes the independent city of Santiago (pop. 134,830), which does not meet the population threshold and therefore remains part of Isabela's congressional representation in this table.

^k Population count for Maguindanao excludes the independent city of Cotabato.

^l The independent city of Cotabato (pop. 299,438) currently remains part of Maguindanao's congressional representation despite having already reached the 250,000 population threshold.

^m Population count for South Cotabato excludes the independent city of General Santos.

^n The independent city of General Santos (pop. 594,446) currently remains part of South Cotabato's congressional representation despite having already reached the 250,000 population threshold.

^o Population count includes the independent city of Olongapo (pop. 233,040), which does not meet the population threshold and therefore remains part of Zambales's congressional representation in this table.

^p Figure combines the population counts of the independent city of Taguig (pop. 804,915) with the independent municipality of Pateros (pop. 63,840), which on its own does not meet the population threshold; the current representational arrangement is thereby retained in this table.

^qPuerto Princesa (pop. 255,116) currently remains part of Palawan's congressional representation despite having already reached the 250,000 population threshold.

The House of Representatives is modeled after the United States House of Representatives; the two chambers of Congress have roughly equal powers, and every bill or resolution that has to go through both houses needs the consent of both chambers before being passed for the president's signature. Once a bill is defeated in the House of Representatives, it is lost. Once a bill is approved by the House of Representatives on third reading, the bill is passed to the Senate, unless an identical bill has also been passed by the lower house. When a counterpart bill in the Senate is different from the one passed by the House of Representatives, either a bicameral conference committee is created consisting of members from both chambers of Congress to reconcile the differences, or either chamber may instead approve the other chamber's version.

Just like most lower houses, money bills, originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may still propose or concur with amendments, same with bills of local application and private bills. The House of Representatives has the sole power to initiate impeachment proceedings, and may impeach an official by a vote of one-third of its members. Once an official is impeached, the Senate tries that official.

Marcos then oversaw the construction of the new home of parliament at Quezon City, which convened in 1978. The parliament, called the Batasang Pambansa continued to sit there until the passage of the 1986 Freedom Constitution. The House of Representatives inherited the Batasang Pambansa Complex in 1987.

The Batasang Pambansa Complex, now officially called the House of Representatives Building Complex, is at the National Government Center, Constitution Hills, Quezon City. Accessible via Commonwealth Avenue, the complex consists of four buildings. The Main Building hosts the session hall; the North and South wings, inaugurated on December 1977, are attached to it. The newest building, the Ramon Mitra, Jr. Building, was completed in 2001. It houses the Legislative Library, the Committee offices, the Reference and Research Bureau, and the Conference Rooms.[10]

The members of the House of Representatives, aside from being grouped into political parties, are also grouped into the "majority bloc," "minority bloc" and "independents" (different from the independent in the sense that they are not affiliated into a political party). Originally, members who voted for the winning Speaker belong to the majority and members who voted for the opponent are the minority. The majority and minority bloc are to elect amongst themselves a floor leader. While members are allowed to switch blocs, they must do so in writing. Also, the bloc where they intend to transfer shall accept their application through writing. When the bloc the member ought to transfer refuses to accept the transferring member, or a member does not want to be a member of either bloc, that member becomes an independent member. A member that transfers to a new bloc forfeits one's committee chairmanships and memberships, until the bloc the member transfers to elects the member to committees.

The membership in each committee should be in proportion to the size of each bloc, with each bloc deciding who amongst them who will go to each committee, upon a motion by the floor leader concerned to the House of Representatives in plenary. The Speaker, Deputy Speakers, floor leaders, deputy floor leaders and the chairperson of the Committee on Accounts can vote in committees; the committee chairperson can only vote to break a tie.

To ensure that the representatives each get their pork barrel, most of them will join the majority bloc, or even to the president's party, as basis of patronage politics (known as the Padrino System locally); thus, the House of Representatives always aligns itself with the party of the sitting president.

The majority bloc sits to the right side of the speaker, facing the House of Representatives.